Nicci Brown
Promotions and Relationship Marketing Manager
MultiChoice Africa (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 11 289 3056
www.dstv.com
Nicci Brown joined MultiChoice Africa in 1996 as group promotions manager for South Africa and Africa, and assumed her current post in 2001. Her job involves acquiring new subscribers and retaining current ones through promotions and relationship strategies, as well as monitoring and tracking customer needs.It includes a range of actions, from the management of TV magazines and on-air TV commercials for subscriber competitions to media liaison. Brown came to MultiChoice from Smith Borkum Hare, where she was marketing manager. She holds an IMM diploma in marketing management, an AAA diploma in advertising management, IMM certificates in sales management and retail marketing, a certificate in marketing communications and a BTech in marketing honours.
Colleen Goodman
Creative Services Manager
DStv
Tel: +27 11 289 3000
www.dstv.com
Colleen Goodman spent a year studying education at the University of the Witwatersrand, then changed direction to become a sales rep for a greeting card company. Three years later she joined MultiChoice Southern Africa as sales and marketing secretary.Promoted to marketing assistant, she enrolled in part-time study through the IMM and earned a graduate diploma in marketing; it led to a promotion to marketing executive and then DStv brand manager, looking after an array of international channels, and involvement in the launch of new ones, including MTV Base and E! Entertainment TV. Among the on-the-ground activities she initiated was the popular basketball extravaganza for ESPN.Currently creative services manager, she manages the creative television material produced for the DStv brand on-air promotions to build the brand and to educate subscribers; the launch of new products; and television commercials. Her department has won Promax awards for promotion and marketing professionals working in electronic and broadcast media. Its work made the finals at Cannes and it won a Loerie award here.
Lefeedi Maja
Marketing Manager
DStv
Tel: +27 11 289 3000
www.dstv.com
As marketing manager for DStv, Lefeedi Maja is responsible for, inter alia, developing above-the-line marketing campaigns in a range of target markets, online marketing of the DStv website, public relations and publicity for the DStv brand and market research to assess the effectiveness of campaigns.She completed an HND diploma in business studies at the London College of Printing and Distribution, a BSc (Hons) in consumer product management at South Bank University of London and an MBA at Oxford Brooks/Damelin Management School. Her marketing career began with a stint as marketing assistant on SABC1.In 1997 she joined Multichoice as assistant marketing manager and brand manager for DStv, a job that included marketing the digital satellite bouquet of channels in South Africa and surrounding countries. In 2002 she was promoted to her current position. She attributes her career success to being well organised, flexible and practical, as well as passionate about the media industry.
Sunel Prinsloo
Market Research Manager
MultiChoice Africa
Tel: +27 11 289 3000
www.dstv.com
Sunel Prinsloo joined MTN a few months after its launch, after obtaining a BComm marketing management degree from the University of Pretoria. She spent four years as MTN’s market research manager; in that post she was responsible both for research covering South Africa and for initial research into the rest of the continent as a basis for licence applications. She joined MultiChoice Africa nine years ago.In her position as market research manager she is responsible for the full spectrum of research functions, covering both South Africa and the rest of Africa. She has introduced a successful South Africa and Africa e-mail panel as additional research methodology for DStv.
Koo Govender
Koo Govender, M-Net’s marketing director, is passionate about the world of broadcasting. She began her television career 17 years ago and has since honed her marketing and managerial skills in the MultiChoice DStv and M-Net family of companies. Before becoming M-Net’s brand ambassador in 2006, Govender held the position of creative services manager at DStv, where she won numerous international Promax awards.Promax is the world’s premier body for promotion and marketing professionals working in electronic and broadcast media. For the past two years, Govender has been the chairperson for Promax Africa. She firmly believes that the workplace should be tailor-made to enable women to juggle their careers and personal lives and she believes in empowering female company employees.
Hajra Karrim
CFO
M-Net
Tel: +27 11 686 6325
www.mnet.co.za
M-Net’s chief financial officer started at the company as finance manager. Hajra Karrim obtained her diploma in accountancy from the University of Natal in 1998 and went on to write her final Public Accountants and Auditors Board exam in 1999. She spent two years with Deloitte & Touche in Durban as an audit manager before taking up the position of group accountant with Uniq Plc, a manufacturer of chilled and convenience foods in London. She also worked as a consultant to the British Airports Authority before returning to South Africa to take up the finance manager position with M-Net in 2007.
Hlonipha Masiza
Director: HR
M-Net
www.mnet.co.za
Hlonipha Nobuntu Masiza holds a bachelor of social science and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Cape Town, as well as a master’s diploma in human resources from Rand Afrikaans University, now the University of Johannesburg. Her career path to her present position as M-Net’s human resources director started at Kessel Feinstein, where she worked as recruitment consultant. She has also worked at various financial services institutions, fulfilling different HR roles, before venturing into television at the SABC, where she was general manager: human resources from 2005 to 2008. She has been with M-Net since July 2008.
Yolisa Phahle
General Manager
Channel O
Tel: 011 686 6159
www.mnet.co.za/channelo
Yolisa Phahle is general manager of Channel O. Born in the United Kingdom but with powerful roots in South Africa, Phahle has always straddled different worlds. She attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, majoring in classical piano and violin, but soon found herself immersed in popular music, playing violin with critically acclaimed 1990s pop act Soul II Soul, and becoming a founding member, composer and musician in the Island Records-signed Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra, eventually sharing a stage with everyone from Duran Duran to Jamoroquai.Phahle joined the BBC World Service in 1998 as a music producer. Four years later she moved to a post as senior music producer at BBC Radio’s 6 Music — the broadcaster’s first-ever digital radio station and its first new music channel in 30 years. The pull of her South African roots and her abiding love for African music saw her make a move to the country in late 2005 where she took up the position of Channel O general manager — and, over the past few years, she’s spearheaded the revival of the channel, turning it into the number one music channel on the African continent.
Patricia Scholtemeyer
CEO
M-Net (Electronic Media Network)
Tel: +27 11 686 6317
www.mnet.co.za
Patricia Scholtemeyer joined M-Net in 2008. She came to the major pay-television company from a position as CEO of Media24 Magazines, a division of the Naspers group. She had held this position for eight years and during her tenure she grew the magazine portfolio extensively.Magazines such as Weg, Move!, Psychologies and Home/Tuis (amongst others) were all launched under her stewardship. She was also instrumental in setting up magazine operations in Kenya and Nigeria. In 2007 she was the winner of the Vodacom Women in Media award. Scholtemeyer has a BA from Unisa as well as an MBA from the Wits Business School. The development and empowerment of women in the workplace has always been her passion.
Helen Smit
General Manager
KTV & Channel GO
www.mnet.co.za
Helen Smit started her television career at the SABC TV news desk in the early Eighties, where she learned valuable lessons about concise writing, working to deadlines and grace under pressure that have stood her in good stead throughout her career. After being promoted to an insert producer for Good Morning South Africa, a stint as PR and consumer affairs manager for Checkers followed, but she soon realised that television is in her blood and in 1992 she started freelancing for production companies such as A&P Film and Video and Urban Brew. She joined the M-Net family in February 2000 as commissioning editor and in 2002 was appointed to the management board when she became general manager: KTV/GO. Her work regularly takes her to all corners of the globe. She holds a degree in English and drama from Rhodes University.
Karen Willenberg
Director of Regulatory and Legal Affairs
M-Net
www.mnet.co.za
Before joining M-Net in 2004, Karen Willenberg was one of a few South African lawyers specialising in entertainment and media law. As part of her practice, she represented South African and international clients in the film, television and music industries and advised on both litigious and commercial matters. She played an active role in educating artists about strategic management of intellectual property rights and contributed regularly to publications on entertainment and media law issues.Willenberg is now the director of regulatory and legal affairs at M-Net. She continues to advise the broadcaster on a range of commercial matters, but has also developed expertise on regulatory and policy issues. Her current focus is on the development and implementation of broadcasting policy. She represents M-Net on a number of industry bodies and has been appointed to serve on the Digital Dzonga Advisory Council established by the minister of communications to advise on South Africa’s migration from analogue to digital television. Willenberg holds a BA LLB from the University of Cape Town and is commencing an LLM in competition law.
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